1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for collecting, storing and transmitting solar heat and more particularly to a method and apparatus for heating building structures and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous prior art solar furnaces have attempted to efficiently harness the enormous energy outlet of the sun. With the impending fossil fuel shortage, a highly efficient solar furnace adaptable to conventional forced air heating systems would find widespread use. Prior art solar furnaces, however, are generally typified by extremely large and expensive collector plates covering large portions of the roof or surface area of the building to be heated and are further typified by extremely large storage chambers usually located in the substructure of the building. Prior art arrangements have utilized either an air or a liquid heat transfer medium from the roof collector to the substructure storage chamber. The heat transferred to the storage chamber is stored for later circulation through the building structure by a separate air or fluid flow.
Such prior art arrangements have proven to be significantly more expensive than corresponding fossil fuel heating systems. Furthermore, these prior art solar furnaces have not efficiently collected, transferred or stored the heat generated by the sun. The heat finally used for heating the building has conventionally been only a few per cent of the total solar heat available for use. Additionally, these prior art systems have not been capable of being easily installed in existing building structures and have not been devised to cooperate as an auxiliary heating unit to the conventional forced air heating systems commonly found in building structures. Finally, these prior art arrangements generally do not aesthetically blend into existing building structures.
Typical examples of prior art solar heating systems may be found in the June, 1973 and October, 1973 issues of Popular Mechanics magazine and in the May, 1973 issue of Popular Science magazine.
A major improvement to prior art solar furnace arrangements is found in co-pending application Ser. No. 445,473 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,786, of common ownership with the present application and entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING, STORING AND TRANSMITTING SOLAR HEAT", now through division, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,946,944, 3,894,685 and 3,946,721. This application discloses an economical solar furnace which does not need to be integrated into the building structure and which is adaptable to supplement conventional forced air heating systems. In co-pending application Ser. No. 515,230, now U.S. Pat. 3,946,720, also of common ownership with the present application and entitled "SOLAR HEAT COLLECTING UNITS" an improved solar heat collecting unit is disclosed which enables efficient trapping of almost all solar radiation, direct or indirect.